Introduction

Sion in general

Lore:
Prior to the creation of the League of Legends, the city-states of Demacia and Noxus were locked in a brutal series of on-again-off-again wars that spanned the course of centuries. Both powers sought an advantage over the other, but Noxus was the city-state willing to forego conventional morality to achieve its goals. Only brute strength and the will to use it mattered to Noxus, and this is best exemplified in the murderous warrior, Sion. Used by the Noxians as a human battering ram, Sion would be sent thundering ahead of Noxian troops. He would mercilessly slaughter foes with his large double-bladed axe, ''Chopper''. His complete disregard for caution ultimately cost him his life, as he was captured and summarily executed by Demacian forces.

The Demacians thought that the beheading of Sion would be the end of his bloodthirsty ways. Death, however, was merely the beginning of Sion's rise to power. The famed Noxian assassin, Katarina, recovered Sion's remains and Noxian necromancers reanimated the behemoth to serve Noxus once again. Sion's reanimation actually bestowed new powers on him and increased the potency of his existing abilities, making him even more of a terror to behold on the battlefield. The Noxian High Command had a powerful new weapon in their hands - one they have brought to bear as a champion in the League of Legends. Even though Sion's increased powers would make him a powerful tool for the High Command's use outside the Fields of Justice, Noxus no longer risks losing one of their greatest champions in the League to chance or circumstance; Sion's days as a front-line fighter for Noxus' military conquests are at an end. Sion is a melee bruiser,even though Riot states he is an AP carry.His abilites are a perfect mix for a mid-late game champion. Sion has a very strong shield(even with only AD items)-( Death's Caress,that damages nearby enemies when detonated(you can only detonate after 4 secs of using,up to 10 secs,then auto detonate.If shield fades before you detonate it,it doesnt deal any damage),a stun Cryptic Gaze that also deals little damage,however costs 100 mana,so shouldnt be used early without a reason,and an awesome Enrage that gives him 65 AD(!) and more maximum health as he kills units(at end of game it can be around 1000 bonus health),And finally, Sion's ultimate Cannibalism gives him 100% Lifesteal and Attack Speed,making him almost invicible unless ignited or you cannot attack anything(it actually heals you fully in 3 hits).

Pros / Cons

Pros:

+Ability to tank and kill whole enemy team later in game if you do farm well.+Health raises as you kill things!+Stun,shield and omg 0-100 hp heal in 3 hits from ultimate+Has very large natural AD due to Enrage - you'll be getting around 100 at lvl 1!

Items

Core Items:(You MUST get those if you want to kill anybody)

:
Lifesteal needed to heal without usage of ultimate,attack damage says for itself,and attack speed is a must so we are getting this and Zephyr.Passive is also very nice for killing/slowing running enemies.

:
Tenacity!Movement Speed!NO MORE RUNNING AROUND BEING UNABLE TO HIT ANYTHING!(sorry for caps but had to write this like that ^^).Also a very nice attack speed and cooldown reduction.

Boots:
This and only this,unless enemy team is almost all AP,then get Berserker's Greaves(why not Mercury's Treads?we already have tenacity from Zephyr).Tabi makes us more tanky and helps with keeping your health high in Teamfights.

More health and a slow + 30 AD will greatly improve your epicness on the battlefield

For this rare occasions when you get stunned and bursted down.

This Veigar with 1500 AP is annoying?no problem,bulid this and kill him in 2 hits.Also + AD the lower your health is helps in healing.

Situational Items:

Offensive:

If you want your crits to proc more frequently and be much higher,this is for you.

High AD and lifesteal bonus,you must farm it to get full effect.Get it if you're doing really good.

Enemy bulids armor against you?get this and laugh at them.

Enemy team consists of many squishy targets?Get it and hit them all with each attack.It is also affected by lifesteal so helps really much with healing.

Still too low armor penetration,and you are too slow with attacks?get this.

Against AD:

Final defense item against fed carries.Get it if enemy AD carry,or other ad champions are very fed.It gives you 100 armor and reflects 30% of dmg taken before armor reduction to an attacker,bassically making carries kill themselves.

Very high armor,cooldown reduction,mana and a passive that makes healing 20% easier by reducing enemy AS by 20%.

More health,more armor and a really nice active that makes kiting you nearly impossible.

Against AP:

Gives you more health,magic resist,some mana and a shield that blocks disables surprisingly well :)

If you are against heavy AP disablers team,or are suffering from healing reductions,get these

I think these are only choice for Sion you can however try different masteries and other marks and quints.

Skills

:
Very underrated passive,but in fact its really good.This passive will make up for lack of armor early on and add some damage reduction later in game.You will also take only around 70% of dmg from minions because it will make you completely absorb smth like 30% of their attacks.Lets take a look at what it does at lvl 18 against a 300 dmg attack if you have 150 armor.

With armor only:120 dmg taken
With passive+armor:(300-50)x0.4=100

Passive reduced around 16.6% of damage,and if we take in account that it activates in 30% of attacks,it does reduce damage you take by around 5%.

Second calculation:100 AD,150 armor

With armor only:40 dmg taken
With passive+armor:(100-50)x0.4=20 dmg taken

This time it reduced dmg by 50%.Remember-the lower your enemies AD is,the better your passive.
(since it works in 30% of cases,it will reduce dmg you take by around 15%)

:
Very useful spell,makes kiting Sion way harder,however early on it will take half of your mana pool so dont use it unless u know you can kill an enemy.It also deals some damage,so it can be used for finishing up your opponents.Take third(unless invade,then take first),max last.

:
Useful for clearing minion waves,shielding a bit of damage and harrasing your opponents early on.Overall really nice spell,however not as important as if you was AP Sion.Take second(unless jungling,but thats not part of this guide-then take first),and max second

:
Bread and butter of every Sion.Thats why you want to farm,farm,farm and farm.It gives a really nice bonus to attack damage,but best part of it is its health bonus/kill.The longer the game is,the stronger Sion is.In long games it can give you more than +1000 maximum health,so thats basically a free Warmog's Armor,or even more.Dont forget to activate it,because its toggle type ability.You should never turn it off,even though it cost health/hit.Thats a reason we are starting with Doran's Blade and then buliding Blade of the Ruined King.Take first and max first.

:
And our ultimate.Thats why AD Sion is viable-you will get 100% lifesteal AND attack speed AND you will heal your allies around you for half of this damage!I think its the best ultimate in the game,it also has a really nice duration and short cooldown,so dont be afraid to use it just to regain some(like 1/2 of hp) health.It will make you unstoppable as long as its active,and you can attack somebody.Take it and max it as fast as you can,as with all ultimates.

Farming

As Sion farming is really important,because Enrage gives us health when you kill an enemy minion(normal lane minions give 3hp/1 at max rank,large minions,large jungle monsters and champions give 6hp/1).If you can have around 300 cs,when around 7.5% of it are those that give you double hp,you will get around 970 health! thats a free Warmog's Armor.

safety zones for farming go like this:

Last hitting under turret:

There will be times when your opponent has a really hard harras so you can only stick to turret early on. Sion is a bit different than other champions in last hitting under turret,because he has 100 AD at lvl 1.

Ranged minions last hitting : wait for turret to hit them once(they will be around 35% hp,then kill them with 1 strike.

Malee minions last hitting : wait for them to have like 30% health and then kill them with 1 strike aswell.

Siege minions last hitting : 1 attack when they are around 20% health.

Last hitting at "safety" and "be cautious" zones:

Wait for minions to be around 30% health and then attack them once.Last hitting at middle of lane makes you quite vulnerable for enemy harras,so remember to pop-up your shield,and remember that you can last hit with it.

Last hitting at danger zone:

If you really have no other choice..i dont recommend that,but if you must you should pop-up your shield,unleash its aoe dmg and then run and wait for shield again.If you want to do that,remember to take wards.

Summoner Spells

Recommended Summoner Spells:

,

Ignite is very useful for finishing opponents,or preventing healing( Dr. Mundo). Ghost is here to prevent enemies from running from you.Viable Summoner Spells:

- Useful for preventing enemies from stunning and bursting you down,take only if enemy team is full of CC champions.

- If you're against hard opponent on top,you can get it.

"Meh" choices:

- Kinda useful for all champions,but not really a good option for Sion.

- You may think it should land in "do not take" category,but it is not as useless.Its health boost is nice,and late game it is really useful.Still,not the best choice.

Do not take:

- You ain't a support.

- You ain't a jungler.

- Useless except early game

Lane matchups

First of all, Sion is countered very hard by Ignite, Exhaust and abilities that either dramatically reduce his attack and movement speed such as Wither,or makes your opponent dodge attacks(Jax's Counter Strike),he is also countered by stuns and immobilizes in general.

LANE MATCHUPS:HARD:Difficulty pre-6: 10/10Difficulty:7/10 Vladimir will completely wreck you in early lane,his harras is insane and its huge possiblity that he can 2v1 you and your jungler if he is good.Just avoid combat and last hit only with your shield to ensure you wont get any dmg(he can break through shield in 1-2 spells anyway but its safer),your farm will be completely broken because of his harras so remember to farm after lane phase.Dont pick up any fights with him before you get Blade of the Ruined King,you can then try to kill him if he pushed minions to your turret with its active,stun and then ghost if he tries to run. Vladimir is pretty weak late game if he is not fed,so ensure you dont feed him.He is countered by Ignite,just like you.

:Difficulty pre-6: 7/10Difficulty: 9.5/10
Jax counters Sion badly if he knows what he is doing-he has very large damage,and he is tanky due to his ultimate,he has a Counter Strike,and deals hybrid damage.Pre-6 level he is medium difficulty,but when he reaches 6 you're in large disadvantage despite having Cannibalism.Also watch for ganks because if you get killed, Jax will become much stronger.

:Difficulty pre-6: 5/10Difficulty: 8.5/10 Nasus is not a hard opponent in lane,but he will wreck you in teamfights.He is very tanky,and he can Wither you,rendering you useless and often leading to your death.Kill him many times early,and dont let him farm.Deals hybrid damage.

Those above are hardest enemies to lane against as Sion.All others that are tanky and have some sort of CC(slows,stuns,immobilizes) or have some sort of heavy ranged harras( Nidalee) are medium difficulty.Squishy toplaners such as Gankplank are easy to lane against.

Summary&Changelog

Thats it,hope you liked it

Changelog:

DD/MM/YY

04/04/13 - Guide Created05/04/13 - A lot of changes,added skills,farming and summoner spells sections.06/04/13 - A lot of very minor changes,added matchups and screenshots sections,added more pictures,got first upvote10/04/13 - 1000 views10/04/25 - 3700 views and a rating of 71%

Screenshots

I'll post here scores with this bulid(mine and those you will put in comments):here is average dmg taken,dealt and healing with this bulid:(Do note that this healing is healing to allies from Cannibalism,because lifesteal doesnt count as "heal",so to get a real amount of healing: 10000(healing part) + 20000(healing from ultimate 100% Lifesteal) + 0.15x35000(total dmg done to champs,lifesteal) - so a total of 35250 healing WHILE fighting with champions(59000 in total if we take total dmg done as base for lifesteal),which is 86% of total dmg taken,or something like 100% of damage taken from champions(minions and turrets are doing some damage after all

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!